An experimental start to the conference – rather than the usual ‘lecture’ layout with the delegates sitting in rows, we are sitting round tables in semi-circles. It will be interesting to see how/whether this works.

Also on the tables are tablet/laptops (toshiba’s) to play with (I mean to use for collaborative working). The wireless network is working well – so all we are missing is a collaborative workspace. This seems a shame – I’m not sure why they haven’t linked something through the website.

The Mayor of Blackpool is welcoming us…

Windows Live™ @ edu Program

The conference proper hasn’t started yet, but this came up in a conversation over a beer (or two) last night. MSN are looking to offer hosted email, 2Gb storage, plus MSN Spaces (blogs) and Messenger. Still in beta at the moment.

On the face of it this looks like a pretty good offer. You have to run MIIS (Microsoft Identity Integration Server) – which has already come up in discussions about identity management – and this is used (somehow) to setup the relevant accounts on the Windows Live service. Apart from that, there is no cost to the institution.

Deadline to register for the service is May 2006 – is this too good to turn down? Part of me is wary of outsourcing email like this – but the potential cost/benefit is hard to dismiss.

Looks like both University of Westminister and Glasgow Caledonian and considering it seriously – be interesting to see if others are also looking at this.

Windows Live™ @ edu Program

The conference proper hasn’t started yet, but this came up in a conversation over a beer (or two) last night. MSN are looking to offer hosted email, 2Gb storage, plus MSN Spaces (blogs) and Messenger. Still in beta at the moment.

On the face of it this looks like a pretty good offer. You have to run MIIS (Microsoft Identity Integration Server) – which has already come up in discussions about identity management – and this is used (somehow) to setup the relevant accounts on the Windows Live service. Apart from that, there is no cost to the institution.

Deadline to register for the service is May 2006 – is this too good to turn down? Part of me is wary of outsourcing email like this – but the potential cost/benefit is hard to dismiss.

Looks like both University of Westminister and Glasgow Caledonian and considering it seriously – be interesting to see if others are also looking at this.

UCISA Annual Conference 2006

It’s that time of the year again, for my poor overlooked blog to suffer. 3 days in Blackpool to cover such topics as The Networked Learning Environment, Identity Management, Outsourcing, and even Creating Dreams.

Keep up with all the news from Blackpool right here…